It’s time to take a look at a stylistic deviation from what Klet Brda is known for. It’s the first wine to be produced with prolonged skin contact. Therefore it has been baptised with the name Orange.

Orange to refer to as the extractive colour grapes have given it and to bring the cellar closer to a profile of drinkers looking for macerated white wines. Will this blend of Rebula, Sauvignon vert and Malvasia prove as a move in the right direction? In my honest opinion, it could.

Grapes are coming from low intervention, sustainably cultivated vineyards aged between fifteen and thirty years. They are planted at altitudes between 150 and 250 meters above sea level in Opoka and facing south, southeast and southwest.

Hand-harvested grapes were destemmed. Rebula berries were placed in oak barrels to ferment for 12 months. Sauvignon vert and Malvasia fermented for a month in stainless vats and were later decanted to mature in stainless containers for a year. Rebula conducted complete malolactic fermentation while Sauvignon vert and Malvasia only partial. Finally, they were bottled under the label Krasno – usually reserved for specialised stores and the HORECA segment.

Krasno Orange boasts a crystal, copper colour that glows in our glass and has a reasonably dense texture.

Its bouquet is sumptuously intense, eliciting overripe peach, pomegranate, red apple, blood orange, honey, yellow plum, overripe apricot, ripe carambola and honeydew melon. We also perceive dried blossoms, butter notes and nutmeg and thyme.

Its softness is pronounced with alcohols well incorporated in the structure, leaving an oily sensation. The wine refreshes us nicely and leaves a tasty mineral signature. All these sensations sum up a balanced taste of pronounced intensity and lasting persistency—a wine of pronounced elegance, which will only improve with bottle age.

Krasno Orange is another majestically crafted wine by the hands of the legendary Darinko Ribolica. It is the perfect bridge to link it closer to people looking for a wine of extraction that will intricate them and show them a style of wines that they might be unfamiliar with. But not just this, it is a wine of extraction and structure. It’s a classy wine looking for balance and bringing a touch of style in the world of overly macerated wines. So for lovers of the so-called “orange wines”, a word of advice, approach it with an open mind, but most of all don’t expect to taste what you usually get when sipping a glass of such wine. But hey, who said this is how a macerated wine should taste like?

Krasno Orange can be drunk now and has the life and potential to last for the next five to ten years. A bottle will cost you approximately ten Eur, and you can get it in their stores, their online store, Koželj or at vinoteka Sodček.